Demand delivery pump for small animals

ABSTRACT

A pump device for dispensing water to create and small animals. The device comprises a tube body attached to a bottle container with a resilient closure and having a ball control adapted to close off, but not mechanically seal, the tube end opening and to control fluid flow by piston action and augmentation of liquid surface tension phenomena. A vacuum is maintained in the bottle and a meniscus is formed at the outlet end of the tube with the control ball. Normally water will flow only when the control ball is manually forced away from the outlet end. Pressure relief means, formed at the outlet end of the tube, has means to space the control ball from a portion of the outlet to prevent a mechanical seal therebetween and to relieve excessive pressure build-up in the bottle.

United States Patent [191 Atchley Nov. 13, 1973 1 DEMAND DELIVERY PUMPFOR SMALL ANIMALS [76] Inventor: Frank William Atcliley, 1106 [52] US.Cl. 119/725, 119/75 [51] Int. Cl A01k 07/00 [58] Field of Search 119/71,75, 72.5; 137/5135 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,918,5667/1933 Sadleir 119/72.5 2,028,265 1/1936 Winnen.... 137/513.5 X

2,034,968 3/1936 Bartlett 119/725 3,303,824 2/1967 Anderson 119/72.53,385,267 5/1968 Boegli et al.,r.. l19/72.5 3,537,430 11/1970 Peppler 1.119/725 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,129,017 10/1968 Great Britain119/725 Primary Examiner-Louis G. Mancene' Assistant Examiner-James H.Czerwonky Att0rney-James R. Cypher [57] ABSTRACT A pump device fordispensing water to create and small animals. The device comprises atube body attached to a bottle container with a resilient closure andhaving a ball control adapted to close off, but not mechanically seal,the tube end opening and to control fluid flow by piston action andaugmentation of liquid surface tension phenomena. A vacuum is maintainedin the bottle and a meniscus is formed at the outlet end of the tubewith the control ball. Normally water will flow only when the controlball is manually forced away from the outlet end. Pressure relief means,formed at the outlet end of the tube, has means to space the controlball from a portion of the outlet to prevent a mechanical sealtherebetween and to relieve excessive pressure build-up in the bottle.

9 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures DEMAND DELIVERY PUMP FOR SMALL ANIMALSBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The traditional method of watering smallanimals, as mice, rats, and hamsters, is with an open end drinking tubeaffixed to a bottle container with a resilient closure. The attendingproblems of drippage, leakage, and unavoidable backflow of contaminationup into the bottle using open tubes are common knowledge. Heretoforenothing better has been available.

A typical open tube watering unit functions in an in- I verted positionwith the open tube end projecting into the animals cage. Drainage out ofthe bottle is prevented by a meniscus surface which bridges the tube endand by a partial vacuum inside the bottle. The animals drink by touchingthe meniscus surface with their tongue or teeth. Water droplets adhereto their tongue or teeth which they extract and drink. As they drink,air bubbles form at the tube tip and rise upward into the bottle tomaintain vacuum equilibrium. These air bubbles, via force of surfacetension, forcefully extract, collect, and transfer nutrients andcontaminants (food particles and bacteria) from the animal's mouth upinto the bottle every time the animal drinks. The result is cumulativedegradation of water quality, decline in effective chlorination, andrapid growth of algae and bacteria. These changes necessitate the costlypractice of frequent water change and cyclic sterilization of thebottles, stoppers, and tubes.

In addition, with open end drinking tubes, there are problems ofcontinual drippage from air expansion inside the bottle on diurnaltemperature increase and of sloshing and spillage during bottlehandling. There is also unavoidable hazard of wick-action capillarydrainage of the bottle contents when piled-up bedding or animal furaccidentally touches the open tube tip.

The prior art reveals numerous attempts to provide a substitute for thetraditional open tube watering unit: Fredericksen US. Pat. Nos.2,726,636, Fredericksen 2,678,630, Grassano 3,228,377, and Holmes1,454,284. However, all such devices employ gravity or pressure as thedriving force for fluid flow and control the fluid flow with a valveseal mechanism or arrangement. When the valve mechanism is actuated thewater flow is continuous. Further, all these prior devices neglectprovision for attracting and training the animal. The trainingdifficulty and the potential for malfunction and continuous fluid flowhas made such devices generally unacceptable.

SUMMARY This invention utilizes a nonsealing, rollable, deflectablecontrol ball inside a tube body for delivery of fluid to small animalsfrom a bottle container. The device employs vacuum pressure andaugmented force of surface tension to preclude continuous fluid flowwhen the control is actuated. It dispenses fluid intermittently byvolumetric fluid displacement from movement and deflection of thecontrol ball by animal licking and nudging. The device is furtheradapted to provide an exposed annular fluid meniscus around the controlball to aid in attracting the animal. The object of the invention is toprovidean improved drinking tube for small animals that eliminates theproblems of drippage, capillary drainage, and backflow of contaminationthat are inherent in open end drinking tubes. Another object of theinvention is to overcome the deficiencies of similar prior art devicesin providing means for attracting the animal and preventing continuouswater flow.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the invention as it would appearattached to a typical bottle container with a resilient closure andinstalled in an inverted position on an animals cage.

FIG. 2 is a partial fragmentary cut-away elevational view of theinvention showing details of its attachment to a typical bottlecontainer and the internal construction and positioning of the controlball in a closed-tube position.

FIG. 3 is a medial sectional view of the tube tip portion of theinvention showing the control ball in an open tube position. This viewillustrates diagramatically the fluid displacement effect of inward balldeflection.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view along cut lines 44 in FIG. 2, precisely atthe distal end of the tube body, illustrating preferred crenulations onthe interior tube wall which preclude fluid seal.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of an alternate tube tip modificationshowing indentations in the tube tip wall which preclude fluid seal.

As shown in FIG. 2 the invention is comprised of a length of thin-walltubing 1 with a full diameter opening 2 on one end and a curved, roundedtube tip 3 forming a'restricted area of tube opening on the oppositeend. The full open tube end 2 fits into a resilient closure 4 thenceinto the neck of a bottle container 5.

Disposed within the tube body 1 is a rollable, freely moveable controlball 6 detained therein by the curved tube tip 3 and by a suitableinward indentation 7 in the tube wall near the opposite end. The controlball is adapted to substantially coincide with the cross-section area ofthe tube interior with 0.005 X 0.010 inches tolerance. The curved tubetip end 3 is adapted to allow the control ball to protrude through andbeyond the tube end opening approximately one third the ball diameter.

FIG. 4 illustrates diagrammatically that the curved tube tip end 3 isadapted with interior crenulations 8 to form an annular ring ofdiscontinuous points of nonsealing contact with the control ball 6 inthe normal closed tube position. In practice, these crenulations are ofminute microscopic dimensions produced in the tube-forming process. Amodification of the curved tube tip 3 showing alternate spacedindentations 9 around its periphery to accomplish the same effect as theinterior crenulations 8 is shown in FIG. 5.

From inspection of the several drawings it is apparent that the controlball is not a check valve and does not provide either valve action orvalve seal. Rather, it serves as a rollab'le body which serves to closeoff, but not seal, the tube interior and the tube end opening. In thenormal down closed tube position, the control ball protrudes out throughthe tube end opening under influence of gravity. When deflectedinwardly, as shown in FIG. 3, the control ball serves as a piston, orram, within a cylinder, which displaces a proportionate volume of fluiddown out of the tube which clings to the ball and is consumed by theanimal. When the control ball drops back down into its normalclosed-tube position, air enters through the crenulation openings andforms bubbles up inside the tube out of contact with the animals mouth.These air bubbles then float upward into the bottle to maintain vacuumequilibrium. Continued in-and-out ball movement from animal lickingresults in an intermittant water release to the animal. The formation ofair bubbles up inside the tube, above the control ball, effectivelyeliminates the problem of extraction and transfer of contaminants fromthe animals mouth up into the water bottle.

From analysis of the operating principle and mechanics of the presentinvention, it is apparent that the control ball also serves to augmentthe force of surface tension at the tube tip by reducing the diameterand area of the tube end opening and by increasing the surface area ofcontact with the fluid. The resulting increased surface tension servesto increase the effective vacuum inside the bottle and to precludecontinuous water flow out of the bottle. The resulting higher pressuredifferential inside the bottle, relative to open-end tubes, assists inpreventing leakage and drippage from temperature and atmosphere changes.

Further analysis reveals that the control ball essentially seals off thetube end opening. This closure of the tube opening materially reducessloshing and spillage during maintenance. It also eliminates the problemof wick-action" capillary drainage when piled-up bedding or animal furtouches the tube tip.

The described crenulations 8 on the inside wall of the curved tube tip 3allow escape of water out of the tube to compensate for air expansioninside the bottle on temperature increase, which otherwise could producepressure build-up and render the control ball inoperable by the animal.The crenulations 8 also effectively create an exposed annular meniscusof liquid around the control ball which attracts the animal throughsmell and aids greatly in overcoming the animal training problem.

Thus it is shown that the present invention accomplishes the statedobjectives and therein provides a valuable useful contribution to theart of animal watering devices. The invention employs mechanicalfunction, liquid surface tension, and volumetric liquid displacement, incombination, to provide a novel new, improved drinking tube for smallanimals.

The detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawingsclearly demonstrates the means, adaptations, positioning, anddimensioning of the various elements which together comprise thepreferred embodiment of the present invention. It is obvious thatmodifications in the construction and positioning of the elements of theinvention can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of thefollowing claims.

I claim:

I. A demand delivery liquid pump dispensing device for small animalscomprising:

a. a sealed container containing a supply of liquid having a dischargeopening in the lower portion of the container below the level of theliquid, said sealed container being capable of maintaining a vacuum;

b. a conduit having an inlet connected to said discharge opening in saidcontainer and a discharge end positioned at a lower elevation opening toatmosphere;

c. the discharge end of said conduit being formed with openingrestricting means, said restricting means including pressure reliefmeans;

d. a control member mounted for free movement within said conduit andhaving an overall cross sectional area dimensioned somewhat smaller thanthe cross sectional area of said conduit for close fitting relation withthe inside walls of said conduit and having a cross sectional areasufficiently large to be constrained by said restricting means fromseparating from the discharge end of said conduit;

c. said inner walls of said conduit and the surface of said controlmember-being dimensioned for producing a meniscus therebetween when saidcontrol member is at rest, and for normally causing liquid to flowtherebetween only when said control member is moving by being manuallyforced toward said inlet and away from said discharge means;

f. means returning said control member to said discharge end when notmanually forced toward said inlet;

g. said pressure relief means having means spacing said control memberfrom a portion of said restricting means to prevent a mechanical liquidseal therebetween; and

h. the control member effectively normally preventing leakage of liquidfrom said container and conduit, except upon demand of a small animal,by the combination of said vacuum within said sealed container and thesurface tension between the surface of said control member and theinside surface of said restricting means.

2. A demand delivery liquid pump dispensing device for small animals asdescribed in claim 1 comprising:

a. said control member return means consisting of a control memberhaving a weight so that the control member will return to the dischargeend by gravity force.

3. A demand delivery liquid pump dispensing device as described in claim2 comprising:

a. said control member is a spherical member dimensioned for freerolling movement within said conduit.

4. A demand delivery pump device as described in claim 1 comprising:

a. said pressure relief means consisting of the discharge end of saidconduit having a circular restricted opening and also havingcrenulations in the periphery of said opening.

5. A demand delivery pump device as described in claim 1 comprising:

a. said pressure relief means consisting of spaced indentationspositioned around the periphery of a cross sectionally reduced area atthe discharge end of said conduit.

6. A pump device as described in claim 1 comprising:

a. said conduit discharge portion being inclined at an angle to thehorizontal.

7. A pump device as described in claim 1 comprising:

a. said conduit having a restriction in its inlet end preventingmovement of the control member into the liquid container.

8. A pump device as described in claim 1 comprising:

a. said control member being dimensioned to protrude beyond the end ofthe discharge end of said conduit.

9. A pump device as described in claim 1 comprising:

a. said opening restricting means consisting of members integral withthe end of the conduit curving inwardly so that the control member willcontact said members without wedging.

1. A demand delivery liquid pump dispensing device for small animalscomprising: a. a sealed container containing a supply of liquid having adischarge opening in the lower portion of the container below the levelof the liquid, said sealed container being capable of maintaining avacuum; b. a conduit having an inlet connected to said discharge openingin said container and a discharge end positioned at a lower elevationopening to atmosphere; c. the discharge end of said conduit being formedwith opening restricting means, said restricting means includingpressure relief means; d. a control member mounted for free movementwithin said conduit and having an overall cross sectional areadimensioned somewhat smaller than the cross sectional area of saidconduit for close fitting relation with the inside walls of said conduitand having a cross sectional area sufficiently large to be constrainedby said restricting means from separating from the discharge end of saidconduit; e. said inner walls of said conduit and the surface of saidcontrol member being dimensioned for producing a meniscus therebetweenwhen said control member is at rest, and for normally causing liquid toflow therebEtween only when said control member is moving by beingmanually forced toward said inlet and away from said discharge means; f.means returning said control member to said discharge end when notmanually forced toward said inlet; g. said pressure relief means havingmeans spacing said control member from a portion of said restrictingmeans to prevent a mechanical liquid seal therebetween; and h. thecontrol member effectively normally preventing leakage of liquid fromsaid container and conduit, except upon demand of a small animal, by thecombination of said vacuum within said sealed container and the surfacetension between the surface of said control member and the insidesurface of said restricting means.
 2. A demand delivery liquid pumpdispensing device for small animals as described in claim 1 comprising:a. said control member return means consisting of a control memberhaving a weight so that the control member will return to the dischargeend by gravity force.
 3. A demand delivery liquid pump dispensing deviceas described in claim 2 comprising: a. said control member is aspherical member dimensioned for free rolling movement within saidconduit.
 4. A demand delivery pump device as described in claim 1comprising: a. said pressure relief means consisting of the dischargeend of said conduit having a circular restricted opening and also havingcrenulations in the periphery of said opening.
 5. A demand delivery pumpdevice as described in claim 1 comprising: a. said pressure relief meansconsisting of spaced indentations positioned around the periphery of across sectionally reduced area at the discharge end of said conduit. 6.A pump device as described in claim 1 comprising: a. said conduitdischarge portion being inclined at an angle to the horizontal.
 7. Apump device as described in claim 1 comprising: a. said conduit having arestriction in its inlet end preventing movement of the control memberinto the liquid container.
 8. A pump device as described in claim 1comprising: a. said control member being dimensioned to protrude beyondthe end of the discharge end of said conduit.
 9. A pump device asdescribed in claim 1 comprising: a. said opening restricting meansconsisting of members integral with the end of the conduit curvinginwardly so that the control member will contact said members withoutwedging.